Date : october 3-4, 1987.
Place : William Patterson College, Wayne, New Jersey.
Organisation : AFA
The place was just short of being packed. There were around 1300 spectators on hand who'd each paid out $7.50 per day to sit and watch the contest, and they nearly filled the bleachers on the one side of the gym set up for the competition. The other half of the gym was closed off with a big curtain, and many of the 139 riders signed up for the day's event were "bustin' their freshness" in there in long practice sessions before their runs.
Il existe trois classements pour chaque catégorie, le classement flatland, le classement ramp et l'overall qui est le classement confondu des deux spécialités. Ce qui explique que certains qui ne gagnent pas dans chaque catégorie occupent parfois la tête de l'overall comme Denis Mc Coy à l'issue de New York, Largement en tête à l'overall, il n'est que 2ème au sol et 4ème à la rampe. 0K pigé ? RL Osborn, Aparijo, Rick Allison, Dave Nourrie, Woody ltson, Robert Peterson et Fred Blood ne disputent que le flat-land. Par contre Brian Blyther, Mike Dominguez, Todd Ander.son, Hugo Gonzales entre autres ne disputent que la rampe. Aucune chance pour eux de remporter le titre overall, que se disputent dans l'ordre Dennis Mc Coy, Ron Wilkerson, Josh White, Rich Sigur et Eddie Fiola. Ça commence à être plus clair ? Most people at the event were more interested in learning what the latest tricks were than they were in anything else. They weren't disappointed. The experts are the ones who keep inventing the new tricks, and they had plenty to show. Some of the hottest riders in the 47-man 14-15 Expert class rode with routines so original and unusual that it was nearly impossible to figure out just what they were doing.Laser's Derek Schott blew minds a month ago with the highest scoring run of the last AFA Masters contest in Columbus, Ohio, and he came to New Jersey to try again. He whipped through a fantastic run here with three moves that really stood out. For one he got going fast and then stepped over the bars and feathered his foot on the front tire to make the back wheel come up off the ground for a long, radical nose wheelie. His next bizarre move was a rollback into-a-decade. Now, of course, he was ripping through one trick after another, and they were all strung together in such a way as to make it almost impossible to tell when one ended and the next began, but when he ripped into a forward-rolling decade, the crowd went berserk, screaming and stomping their feet in raucous approval. Derek Schott could be destined for greatness. No one was surprised when he won the class.
The 16-18 Expert class brought out hot moves by the famous and non-famous alike. Joe Gruttola was the next guy to bring the crowd to a screaming frenzy. His routine was hot all the way through, but the one that was the real shocker was a forward-side-glide/double tail whip combo that he did across the floor. Nobody, however, got the crowd screaming as loud as GT's only girl, Krys Dauchy. As soon as her name was announced, a roar rose up from the bleachers that eclipsed every decibel record of the contest. Krys rode a routine that was mostly slow and graceful and dependent on her amazing balance skills, but it was good. Her best moves were a backwards bar ride and a gut lever that went into a surfer. If she can increase her physical strength and master more of the newest tricks, she'll be more of a contender in the class. She has the showmanship, that's for sure. As it was, she placed 39 out of 59 riders. The judges handed first place to Joe Gruttola.
The 19 & Over Expert Flatland class usually introduces fewer tricks than the younger ones, but there are exceptions. New Jersey's Kris Ketchum raised more than a few eyebrows when he worked his way into a series of backwards Miami hop hops. In recent months the 19 & Over Expert class has been the battleground for two of the sport's most incredible amateurs-Rick Moliterno and Kevin Jones. Moliterno skipped this event, he later told us, so he could work on new tricks for later contests rather than spend his time practicing to do a perfect but non-innovative routine in this one. He'd already amassed enough points in the 1987 Masters Series to guarantee that he'd win the Flatland and Overall titles for the year in his age class. He was preparing for the pro class now. Kevin Jones won the class in Moliterno's absence, but he did so with a mistake-riddled run that was far short of what he is capable of doing. Jones at first only tied for first with up and-comer Greg Flowers of the Kuwahara team. Jones finally showed how good he was to win the runoff, and Flowers ended up with second place just ahead of teammate Kris Ketchum.
It was the debut of a new flatland trick that was the highlight-and the deciding factor-of the Pro Flatland class. The 11-man class turned into a three-man battle for supremacy among top contenders Dennis McCoy, Martin Aparijo and R.L. Osborn.
McCoy was the first of the three to ride, and he rode out onto the floor with his trademark high-speed, ultra-difficult routine of incredible tricks, including a triple hang glider and hyper-spastic front.and backyards, linked together with squeakers, fork wheelies, boomerangs and tail whips. Dennis squeezed far more tricks into his run than anybody else in the class but also made too many mistakes, touching the ground six times, three of which included having both feet on the floor at the same time.
Martin Aparijo came out next and put on a great routine, slower and easier than McCoy's run, by most observers' standards, but also much cleaner. He touched down only three times. Martin's run included forwards and backwards bar rides and much more, but one trick really blew away the crowd and the judges. He turned the front wheel sideways, rocked forward, and started hopping in the regular Miami hop-hop manner, but then he started spinning the bars 180 degrees between hops, no handed no less! The crowd went absolutely, totally crazy. It was the trick of the contest.
R.L. Osborn rode out a few minutes later for his run, a perfect routine of fast paced and difficult tricks and combinations, including one amazing sequence of five backwards-rolling tailwhips. When he was done, he hadn't made a single mistake. Just the same, it looked like a tossup as to who was going to come out on top in the contest. As far as we were concerned, it could have been R.L., Dennis or Martin, depending on what the judges were looking for. If they wanted perfection, it was R. L. If they wanted the hardest routine with the most hot tricks, it was Dennis. If they wanted a good, entertaining, wellrounded run with the hottest trick of the day, it was Martin. As it turned out, they gave Martin the win, McCoy second and R.L. third.
Les pros, le talent à l'état pur. Ils sont tous là le samedi pour le flatland (épreuves au sol). L'après midi du samedi tire à sa fin quand les pros entrent enfin en scène devant des kids vraiment passionnes. Grosse cote d'amour pour le sympathique Dave Nourrie, malgré une prestation où le trac a pris le pas sur le talent le faisant trébucher à plusieurs reprises. Mauvaise journée pour Dave qui termine 8e tout comme pour Wilkerson plus souvent à terre qu'il le mérite, lui se classe 9e. Le plus nul, à l'unanimité, est bien sûr Robert Peterson. Sapé mickey, il nous a ressorti une routine ringarde qui date de Mathusalem. Une chose est sûre, il mérite amplement la dernière place qui est la sienne. Le roi du balancing vieilli mal, ses figures aussi. Par contre, show d'enfer pour les trois premiers acclamés comme ils le méritent à leur arrivée sur l'aire de free. Devant les sept juges de l'AFA ces grands professionnels nous ont offert pendant les 4 min accordées à chacun un spectacle géant. RL d'abord, dans sa tenue JT «Heads and Bones a, toujours très propre très clean, qui réussit tout ce qu'il tente même si ses tricks ne sont pas les plus spectaculaires, ni les plus risqués. Non, les deux tops qui m'ont laissé sur place sont bien Martin et Dennis. Et si Martin Aparijo gagne c'est bien sûr justice, je n'aurais pas la prétention de contester le verdict de sept spécialistes. Le free de Martin est aéré et la vitesse d'enchaînement des tricks ahurissante, il ponctue sa routine parfaite par une nouveauté le "Cowboy Spin Bar ». Pratiquement pas de loupé. Bravo. Mais celui qui m'a réellement gazé, c'est Dennis McCoy. Fabuleux, géant. Dans le même temps que Aparijo, Mc Coy est arnvé à rentrer presque deux fois plus de figures que le pilote GT, dont six Tailwhip d'affilée, un Squeaker Backward, en tournant dans un mouchoir de poche et un Rock Walk hyper long. Malheureusement, quelques pieds sont venus s'intercaler dans cette routine magistrale.
Dennis McCoy
Martin Aparijo
Pro flatland : 1.Martin Aparijo 2.Dennis McCoy 3.RL Osborn 4.Woody Itson 5.Rick Allison 6.Chris Lashua 7.Rich Sigur 8.Dave Nourrie 9.Ron Wilkerson 10.Josh White 11.Robert Peterson ... 26.Jean Somsois
19 and over expert flatland : 1.Kevin Jones 2.Greg Flowers 3.Kris Ketchum 4.Steve Rulli 5.Dino DeLuca
16-18 expert flatland : 1.Joe Gruttola 2.Jeff Cotter 3.Brett Hernandez 4.Gary Pollack 5.Marty Stover 39.Krys Dauchy
14-15 expert flatland : 1.Derek Schott 2.Hamid Rashidzads 3.Ruben Castillo 4.Bill Newman 5.Park Carter
13 and under expert flatland : 1.Greg Macomber 2.Eric Evans 3.Gabe Lewis 4.Frederic Sumi 5.Tim Cotter
Scott Freeman. Photo by Josh Marsele (?).
Eric Evans is only nine years old, but if ever there was a guy destined to be the next Matt Hoffman, Eric is it. His run included almost every limbless variation we could think of, including an Indian air, all performed at or below coping on the eight-foot-high Dia-Compe quarterpipe. He even blasted an aerial about three or four feet above the lip, which was by far the highest we'd ever seen a young kid go. It was no contest: Eric won the 13 & Under class.Speaking of Matt Hoffman, "his aerial eminence" was incredible, as always. In addition to his super-twisted Hoffmanian cancan and amazing no-hander-into-no-footer, Matt added his latest incredible move-a no-footer into a no-footed cancan. He won, of course.
The one guy who's been beating Matt Hoffman in recent months in Wilkerson's King of Vert series is Joe Johnson, and he may well have beaten Matt this time if they'd been in the same class. They aren't, so Joe blew away the 16-18 Experts. Joe's routine consisted of a 270 drop in, a one-footed invert about nine feet out (all these heights are estimates), a no-footed cancan eight feet out, a front-wheel abubaca, a lookdown seven feet out, a cancan lookback six feet out, a cancan footplant, a no-footed X-up six or seven feet out, a lookdown fakie air three feet out and a no-hander six feet out. Chris Rothrock and Gary Pollak ripped their way to second and third, but there was never any question as to who was getting the win. Joe had it in the bag.
Dave Voelker hadn't lost a Masters contest all year, and he wasn't about to change that pattern here. He charged through his run with spectacular high airs up to around nine feet out, a nohander seven or eight feet out, the highest Voelker flyout we'd ever seen, a one-footed X-up seven feet out, a 540 two feet out and even a no-handed fakie air three feet out. He crashed on the last one, but it was still a winning run.
For four guys nowadays the Pro Ramps class is an anybody-can-win situation. Mike Dominguez and Brian Blyther have won more Pro Ramps contests this year than anybody else, but on a good day, Ron Wilkerson or Josh White can challenge them with the hardest variations known to man. Blyther got things started with a good, but not exceptional, routine. Wilkerson went next and did a great assortment of hard tricks, including a pedal picker drop-in, a no-hander six feet out, a no-footed cancan six or seven feet out, a rocket air seven or eight feet out, and a no-handed fakie two feet out. Unfortunately, he bailed twice-once on an abubaca and, at the end of his run, on a Miami hopper drop-in.
Dominguez has coasted through much of the last two years with old tricks that he could do three years ago, but in the last few months he's been practicing or something, because he can do a whole lot of new stuff now. He started out with a three-foot warmup air, came back with a one-hand one-footer eight feet out, a basic air nine feet out, a 540 close to six feet out (one of the highest ever), a turndown six or seven feet out, a fakie and then an incredible fakie air six feet out. He landed hard on the last one and crashed, bending his seatpost in the process. He didn't know what to do at first, but Blyther and McCoy offered to help him, so Dominguez pulled it back up with his hands while the others held the bike down. The crowd cheered when he started riding again, warming up with a rock and roll on the lip, and then coming back for a nine-foot air. After that he did a no-footed cancan six feet out, a no-hander five feet out, a one-hand no-footer five or six feet out, a one-hand no-footed cancan five feet out, and ended his run with a 540 about four feet out. Even with the bail, it was the hottest run of his life.
Rich Sigur, Dennis Langlais and Dennis McCoy followed, but none of them challenged Michael. Josh White was up last. Josh started his run with an eight-foot basic air, hit an eight-foot one-footer for his next air, then a one-hand one-footed invert seven feet out, and a framestand air five feet out. He was ripping, but somehow the flair wasn't there. He did a fakie footplant and then a no-footed X up six feet out, a no-footed fakie air two feet out, a one-hand no-footed cancan five feet out, a cancan lookback five or six feet out, a fakie four feet out, another no-footed X-up six feet out, a cancan flyout, a one-hand no-footer six feet out, a basic air five feet out and a onefooted X-up seven feet out for his final air. The crowd cheered, but not the way they had for Dominguez. Josh had left out his 540, and with it, his showmanship. It was no contest. Dominguez had won.
Le lendemain, c'est la rampe et le délire. En France, il y a des progres à faire. Trois minutes pour chacun et une routine supplémentaire pour départager les ex aequo. Vous en voulez de la technique, en voilà, on va malheureusement, encore une fois, se cantonner aux cinq premiers, et laisser de côté les seconds couteaux genre Rich Sigur et Dennis Langlais. Pas facile l'attribution des 4e et 5e places. Brian Blyther et Ron Wilkerson terminant ex aequos leurs trois minutes. Bon, vous avez votre petit guide du parfait freestyler dans la main gauche, Bicross Magazine et cet article hautement éducatif dans la main droite, voici et on direct comme si vous y étiez la routine de Brian Blyther qui finalement l'emportera sur Ron apres un run d'une minute pour les départager. Can Can Foot Plant, Gay Air, Look Down, Candy Bar, Step In, Can-Can X-Up et 540° permettent à Brian de s'octroyer la 4e place. Tout le monde attendait avec beaucoup d'impatience la prestation du blondinet aux yeux transparents, j ai nommé Dennis Mc Coy qui nous a une fois encore, comme au sol, offert le free certainement le plus complet du contest. Départ de la plate-forme de la rampe en Abubaca puis enchaînés à un rythme d'enfer Look Back, Fackie no Foot, Look Down, Fackie Foot Plant, 360° Drop In, Acid Drop, Fackie No Foot One Hand et un Cherry Picker Drop in pour terminer. Les flash crépitent, les bras m'en tombent. Malgré tout cela Dennis ne se classera que 3e.Derrière un surprenant Josh White qui aurait pu prétendre à la victoire s'il n'avait a plusieurs reprises accroché à la descente la roue arrière sur la plate forme. Il nous a tout de même offert un superbe Invert à 2,50 m suivi d'un Invert One Foot, One Foot One Hand opposés, No Foot avec réception sur la plate-forme du sam, s'il vous plaît, No Foot X Up, Can Can No Foot One Hand, Can-Can Look Back, Fackie à 1,50 m du sommet de la rampe, No Foot X-Up, Can Can Foot Plant, No Foot One Hand, et 540° pour conclure.
Le vainqueur, vous vous en doutez, est bien sûr l'incroyable Mike Dominguez. Son arrivée est saluée comme il se doit par un tonnerre d'applaudissements et c'est avec un run radical qu'il s'adjuge une victoire largement méritée malgré une chute spectaculaire. Il débute son run par un One Foot One Hand à 3 m, suivi d'un Gay Air. Dés le 4e aérial, il rentre un 540° dès lors, dans le public, émanent des gradins, on entend clairement les kids récla.mer "Nine hundreds, nine hundreds". Décidément, ces gamins sont insassiables, le 540° ne leur suffit méme plus, c'est qu'ils savent pertinament que Mîke travaille cette figure. Ils n'y auront néanmoins pas droit, et Mike enchaîne avec un Fackie et puis un autre à 2 m de haut, seulement à la réception de ce dernier, il chute violement et glisse tordant la selle à l'équerre. Il se relève avec tout le calme qui le caractérise, se tourne vers le jury et demande aux juges si le chrono est bien arrêté comme le prévoit le règlement AFA. Mike réclame de l'aide, c'est Mc Coy qui vient l'aider, arc bouté sur le cadre, à détordre cette foutue tige de selle. Mike repart immédiatement pour un aèrial à 3,50 m puis un Can-Can No Foot, suivi d'un No Hand, d'un No Foot One Hand, d'un Can-Can No Foot pr One Hand et c'est une deuxième 540° pour terminer ces fabuleuses 2'30 d'exhibition. Le public exulte et Josh est acclamé à la hauteur de sa performance.
Je savais qu'ils étaient forts, mais je n'aurais jamais cru qu'ils l'étaient autant !
Dennis McCoy
Mike Dominguez
Pro ramp : 1.Mike Dominguez 2.Josh White 3.Dennis McCoy 4.Brian Blyther 5.Ron Wilkerson 6.Rich Sigur 7.Dennis Langlais ... 13.Jean Somsois
19 and over expert ramp : 1.Dave Voelker 2.Dino DeLuca 3.Steve Broderson 4.Tony Murray 5.Marty Schlesinger
16-18 expert ramp : 1.Joe Johnson 2.Chris Rothrock 3.Gary Pollack 4.Jeremy Alder 5.Brian Belcher
14-16 expert ramp : 1.Matt Hoffman 2.Carlo Griggs 3.Roger Sullivan 4.Beau Cobb 5.Thad Miller
13 and under expert ramp : 1.Eric Evans 2.Eben Krackau 3.Greg Macomber 4.Frederic Sumi
